


This

by Andramion



Series: Rare Pair Collection [7]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Chromesthesia, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Synesthesia, Synesthesia Tsukki, same old same old introspective fluff you know from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 07:19:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7705597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andramion/pseuds/Andramion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kei can't exactly say when all of this somehow stopped surprising him, can't pinpoint when and how he got used to things being like this, even though he - for all his intelligence and focus - can't figure out how things came to this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna go ahead and dedicate this to the wonderful and lovely [boxofwonder](http://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofwonder/works) because really, if anything or anyone inspires me to write fluff, it's Nico.
> 
> And a big thank you to [Pixie](http://archiveofourown.org/users/bibbidibobbididette) for letting me write at her, THANK YOU!

Kei can't exactly say when all of this somehow stopped surprising him, can't pinpoint when and how he got used to things being like this, even though he - for all his intelligence and focus - can't figure out how things came to this.

 

 _This_ being:  
Akira curled into his right side, legs pulled up onto the sofa, arms around his knees. As Akira talks to Kindaichi on LINE, he leans against Kei, head cocked to keep its position on Kei's shoulder. It's funny how someone that tall can condense himself into a form that takes up so little space. Kei sure can’t manage it.

From time to time, Akira stretches his legs for a moment, arms coming up and back arching away from the backrest. He curls his elbow around Kei's neck, pulls him into a quick kiss and then lets him go; sinks back and folds in on himself again.

 

 _This_ being:  
Kenma's head resting on his thigh as he lazily stretches out across more than half of the sofa, feet propped up against the armrest and gaze focussed on his game.

He KOs several times, a little grunt escaping him and when Kei looks down in time, he can see Kenma's nose scrunch up and his brows furrow.

 

 _This_ being:  
Kei flicking through the music on his phone as he looks for something that fits his mood, headphones creating that weirdly quiet little bubble around him as they even block the sound of the others' breathing.

Kei had expected that the world around him would look a little bland without the constant colours floating around, but Kenma was right: sitting here, in the half-dark room, in complete silence.. it grounds him - _they_ ground him - and he can feel the sensory overload bleeding out of him.

 

With the three of them being so quiet, Kei would've never thought they'd fit together. In fact, Kei is the loudest of the three and he can’t count that as anything but a feat on Kenma and Akira's part.

But the marks are still there, softly humming with energy beneath their skins. They confused Kei throughout his childhood. Constantly pulled in two directions by his compass, he often thought he was faulty - that this whole soulmate business was wasted on him - until he found his hand pointing towards the both of them standing close. Never in his life had he been this thankful for Hinata’s friendship – and never in his life will he admit to anyone but himself that he ever has been.

And even with his brash personality, even though sometimes witty but hurtful remarks would fall off his tongue before his brain could filter them, they somehow still fit, all three of them. Even with all of them needing their own space, their own private time away from everyone, they fit together.

But well, Kei muses, maybe he shouldn't have worried about being soulmates meaning they'd have to somehow fit.

Maybe them falling together like pieces of a puzzle, three parts of a whole... maybe that's what makes them into soulmates, instead of the other way around.

 

There's a quiet murmur, a light pink and deep green floating into Kei's vision: Akira and Kenma are whispering at each other. Kei can't make out the words, but the colours distract him after the quiet sight of the room before.

He lifts his hand from where it had been resting on Kenma's chest, brings it up to slide his headphones off.

"Oh, hey," Akira says, and his voice changes slightly, becomes a bit more red, a little more saturated.

"We were trying to decide who should cook tonight," Kenma explains for the both of them. He turns onto his side, buries his face in Kei's stomach. "We should eat soon."

"Did your alarm go off?" Kei asks, carding his hand through Kenma's hair. Occasionally, Kenma’s food alarms were the only thing reminding them it was mealtime, but Kei is pretty sure he hadn’t forgotten the time.

"I didn't see it." He shakes his head and corrects himself. "Hear. Hear it."

Akira follows Kenma's example, gets up so he can sit on his knees and drape himself over Kei, cheek to cheek, chest pressed against Kei’s arm.

"We get what you mean," he says, right into Kei's ear, and it makes Kei shiver, shapes giving way to formless clouds of colour as he closes his eyes. "And I think you should do it, it's your place."

Kei groans at the idea of getting out of this tangle of limbs. Though he doesn’t _need_ to be, he likes it when they’re like this, all clumped together and _warm_.

"I vote for Kei too," Kenma agrees, the traitor.

"You guys know my place just as well as I do," Kei comments, pressing closer to Akira's face and turning to kiss his cheek.

Kenma huffs and Kei feels the warmth of his breath through his t-shirt.

"But you make the best food."

With a groan, Kei pushes against Akira's chest, but the combination of Akira's full weight on him and Kenma nuzzling into his shirt makes it hard to move.

"I can't make dinner if you won't let me get up."

"We could always order in," Akira suggests, "I'm comfortable."

"Me too." Kenma's smushed voice creates a billow of light green, weaving with the echo of Akira's red.

Kei hums, agreeing with them but seeing no need to voice it. "We'd still need to get up to get it from the door. Just let me get up and cook us something healthy."

He closes his fist in Kenma's hair and tugs softly. "I know you've had instant ramen for three nights in a row this week."

Akira lets out a laugh against Kei's neck when Kenma softly swears at Kuroo-san and the last of that uneasy feeling lingering low in Kei's stomach disappears.

 

With a lot of complaining sounds colourfully bouncing off the walls, the three of them untangle and Kei has hardly lifted himself off of the sofa when Akira and Kenma cuddle up together again, like two magnets clinking back towards each other.

The kitchen cabinets don't hold that much - Kei really needs to go for groceries again. With Kenma and Akira over so often, his supplies dwindle much too fast, not that he minds. He's given up on shopping for their places, they always end up here for dinner anyway.

There's enough, though, for a simple meal, so that's what Kei prepares for them as he watches the two of them from behind his kitchen island.

It used to make him nervous, seeing how well his two soulmates get on. It always looked to him as though they're perfectly content with just the two of them, like there's no need for a third piece of a puzzle to complete a picture, like maybe Kei was just a bit of background, a corner piece lost but not missed…

But now he knows, now he's a little older. He's gotten used to how they're all their own person, thoughts of needing your soulmate to be complete long since left behind in high school.

He’s sure they'd all fine, they would all survive, live, be happy even if they'd never met. But it's just... it's that little bit extra. Kei finds it hard to describe what exactly soulmates are if not a life-changing presence. A comfort maybe; that safety and warmth they find in each other.

Maybe they fell in love because they're soulmates, maybe they’re soulmates because they fell in love. The chicken and the egg, really, but this is one that Kei really cannot figure out.

He doesn't really want to either.

It's good enough to know that they're there, they're close.

 

He knows Kenma loves him, because he tells him every day, green words whispered through the phone before they say good night, soft yellow mumbles when they fall asleep together.

He knows Akira loves him because Akira takes him head on, doesn't take his bullshit and calls him out on it when he has to, because Akira craves his closeness so much he hardly ever falls asleep in his own bed down the hall anymore, favouring Kei's or Kenma's room.

He knows that Kenma and Akira love each other, so deeply, every time he looks at them and his gaze catches on the way they move around each other, so easy, so smooth, like a river runs around the rocks.

And well, he knows he loves them both, and he’s done childishly denying himself the things he wants for fear of losing them. He knows doesn't need to tell them, but he still makes himself do so: a cup of tea on the table, a glass of water on the window sill next to the bed, a meal on the table and sometimes – sometimes – an I love you against their lips. He's not as much of a coward as he was before, not since they wormed their way under his skin and left their seeds to grow there.

Kei sets the table as he waits for the rice cooker to finish, and he goes back to the sofa to lift Akira off. He doesn't go without complaint - Akira loves to act spoiled around them when they let him - but Kenma follows quietly, setting his phone aside once he settles onto his chair.

They say thanks for their dinner before they dig in. Kenma nearly inhales the vegetable stir-fry, so quickly that Kei wonders if Kuroo-san downplayed how many days in a row they didn't cook for themselves. Maybe he should talk to them again sometime soon. His lease is coming up anyway and they could look for something bigger, big enough for Akira to move in, big enough for Kenma to have his own room, big enough for Kuroo-san to stay too. He doesn’t want to pull those two apart either. He wouldn’t mind cooking for four instead of three.

Kei heaps extra rice into Akira's bowl, because otherwise they'll end up snacking too much in the evening - always caving in to satisfy Akira's sweet tooth, and Kei's really not so keen on changing that extra two pounds he'd gained into five.

Dinner is quiet again, but they're used to quiet, and Kei enjoys the little bursts of colour that the clacking of utensils on tableware makes. It's calm, it's easy.

It's just what Kei needed.

It used to overwhelm him, constantly, before, surprise and awe at the incredible way they all got along, how well it all went, how smoothly.

But now it doesn't surprise him anymore; he got used to it before he even realised.

There's no need to figure this out anymore, to pick the workings of _them_ apart.

It's enough to know that this - _this_ being: all of them, together - is everything he could ever wish for.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Please leave me a comment with your thoughts if you enjoyed it, they absolutely make my day and help greatly in keeping me motivated!


End file.
